911 telecommunicator mental health is an ever-present challenge. When a telecommunicator deals with one crisis after another all day, every day, running from the worst moment in someone’s life to the next, burnout and emotional exhaustion can seem inevitable.

Providing telecommunicators with better tools and additional data can help reduce stress by reducing time to dispatch and saving more lives. Here are four ways RapidSOS can help reduce stress for telecommunicators:

1. Better tools

Telecommunicators use many technologies on a daily basis – including CAD, mapping, CPE, etc. Critical information lives on several different screens and can be hard to manage. RapidSOS Partner Network helps to consolidate these critical tools and allows best-in-class public safety technology companies to seamlessly distribute their offerings across the fragmented North American emergency telecommunications system. Emergency communication centers and first responder agencies can now access cutting-edge public safety technologies including drones, smart city systems, body cameras, building access controls, and indoor maps all in one standardized platform.

Note: RapidSOS Portal with Axon Integration. This image is for illustration purposes only and does not represent the final interface. 

2. Better data

RapidSOS Portal provides real-time location, caller profile, vehicle crash data and more from over 400M connected devices to support telecommunicators in their work to save lives. RapidSOS offers training and consulting services; to date, we have trained 15k+ 911 telecommunicators and we spend 20k+ hours annually working with 911 in the field. With the RapidSOS Portal, you can help improve outcomes and relieve some of the mental and emotional pressure of your telecommunicators jobs:

• Location data – We partnered with Google to send Android Emergency Location Service (ELS) data through the RapidSOS platform, and we worked with Apple to allow US iPhone users who call 9-1-1 to automatically and securely share their location data with first responders. 
• Health data – Our partnerships include multiple options for health data access:
  • MedicAlert can send health profile information associated with a membership ID number via RapidSOS directly to 911 in an emergency. 
  • Emergency Health Profiles allow critical medical information on file to be sent directly to 911.
  • Brave helps protect against overdose deaths with voluntary data from drug users.
• Alarm data – RapidSOS makes it possible to link alarm data from SimpliSafe devices directly to 911 telecommunicators, and also delivers rich alarm data from Cove in case of a fire or break-in.
• Vehicle crash data – SiriusXM Connected Vehicle provides vehicle manufacturers and their drivers with Advanced Automatic Crash Notification (ACN+) technology.  In the event of an accident, the driver’s vehicle crash data is immediately sent to ECCs which benefits not only the driver in their most vulnerable state but also the public safety community in receiving life-saving data before they arrive on scene.

3. Better communication

RapidSOS’s Emergency Data Exchange (EDX) enables real-time situational awareness by empowering neighboring public safety agencies to seamlessly coordinate emergency response and share critical data across jurisdictional boundaries during mass emergencies. The Agency Share and Chat feature allows agencies to share incidents within RapidSOS Portal with identified peer agencies with a scalable digital communication solution.

RapidSOS can provide multimedia options for communication and supplemental data review, including video feed from the scene and real-time SMS and chat with alarm monitoring company personnel. Digitally routed data allows monitoring companies to share alarm information directly with ECCs, consolidating multiple data sources and giving telecommunicators an overview of the incident.

This provides enhanced data accuracy and can expedite time to dispatch by reducing call processing time through automatic delivery of data. Telecommunicators benefit from the supplemental data feature by feeling more informed and better able to support first responders in the field while staying in close communication with the alarm monitoring center.

4. Better outcomes

RapidSOS helps facilitate better outcomes by providing a full spectrum of support, including:

• More data in more formats from more sources, including rich and multimedia data.
• Advanced communication and emergency verification with monitoring.
• According to first responder estimates, response time can be reduced by up to 3 minutes with faster verification.* 
• 92% of 911 call takers agree that having additional information from RapidSOS speeds the emergency response process.**

When more lives are saved, the mental health of those involved in emergency services is protected. To find out how RapidSOS can help provide life-saving data, sign your ECC up for the RapidSOS Portal – it’s free, and you can do it in minutes.

*Based on DKC Analytics, “Home Security Survey.” March 2020.

**RapidSOS, “Android ELS Pilot Project.” PSAP Survey. January 2018.